A SUPERMARKET supervisor has denied groping an Exeter University student as they watched an episode of Breaking Bad in her room after a night out.

Robert Caple, from Bishopsteignton, told a jury the woman fled her room in the middle of the night because she took offence at a misplaced compliment rather than because he touched her private parts.

He said the student had invited him to spend the night in her room, stripped off her top, and had been kissing him before he told her ’you look good in the dark’.

Caple, who works at the Asda store in Newton Abbot, said she pulled away from him, put her clothes on, picked up her phone and key, and walked out of the room without saying anything more.

The student has told a jury at Exeter Crown Court she let Caple stay overnight in her room but said no when he tried to touch her and made it clear she did not want sex.

She said he groped her from behind as they lay on her bed watching Breaking Bad on her laptop and he then pinned her down and put a hand inside her shorts before she broke free and fled.

Caple, aged 28, of Camerons Close, denies sexual assault by penetration.

The prosecution say he met the woman at Club Rococo, where a friend was flirting with a fellow student who invited them all back to the university accommodation in Exeter to carry on drinking.

The other two went to bed together and the alleged victim agreed to let Caple stay in her room but gave no indication she wanted sex.

She said she had told him she was on her period to put him off but he persisted. The jury have been shown texts he sent to a taxi driver friend in which he made reference to this.

His friend sent a message back saying he should still try to have sex to which Caple replied:"Trying to".

Caple told the court he is a night supervisor at Asda who came to Exeter with his friend Chris Williams for a night out. He said he had been drinking vodka and taking legal highs but was tipsy rather than drunk when they met the two students in the smoking area of Club Rococo.

His friend started kissing the other student and when they were invited back to the student hall he assumed they would both be staying the night and cancelled their taxi home to Newton Abbot.

They all sat drinking with other students before everyone went to bed and the woman invited him to sleep in her room.

He said they started kissing as they lay on her bed together watching Breaking Bad and she took her top off.

He said We were kissing on the mouth, it lasted longer than seconds. It progressed and I started kissing her neck and breasts. I put my hand on her hip but not inside her shorts.

"As we were kissing, I stupidly made a remark which I intended as a compliment but which offended her. I told her she looked beautiful in the dark.

"She grabbed her clothes and left. She left pretty much straight after I made the comment.

"I was confused. I went to sleep. I never restrained her, I did not put my hand across her chest of pin her down. I never put my hand inside her shorts."

The trial continues.